Top Performer for Tuesday: G-III Apparel (GIII)

Shares of G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. (GIII - Snapshot Report) are up in the double digits Tuesday, nearly a week after announcing a narrower fiscal first-quarter loss than Wall Street was expecting.

Good Start for the Fiscal Year

GIII lost 41 cents per share in the quarter, which was a penny narrower than the previous year. More importantly though, the loss was a dime better than analysts were expecting, accounting for a positive surprise of almost 19.5%.

Net sales reached $115.9 million, or practically 54% atop the year-ago performance of $75.4 million.

According to the company, it has cut costs, controlled inventory and positioned itself to perform well. The Wilson's retail outlet business, which had been owned by GIII only 3 weeks in the year-ago second quarter, has been a bit of a drag due to its seasonal nature, but the company is "working hard to create a more efficient and effective merchandising capability".

Meanwhile, GIII enjoyed improved operating profitability at its dress and women's sportswear businesses.

"Given the increased value offered in our merchandise mix, the appropriateness of our inventory level and the strength of our branded portfolio, our expectations are good for both sales and margin for the remainder of the year," stated Chairman and CEO Morris Goldfarb.

For its fiscal second quarter, GIII expects sales of $135 million, compared to $113.5 million a year earlier. Loss per share is seen at 28 cents to 32 cents, which is wider than the year-ago loss of 23 cents due to the aforementioned seasonal nature of Wilson's and a continued shift in outerwear sales to better match the selling season.

A Week of Growth for Earnings Estimates

All 4 covering analysts have raised estimates for the fiscal year ending January 2010 over the past 7 days, pushing the consensus higher by almost 15% to $1.01 per share from 88 cents.

Expectations for the fiscal year ending January 2011 have advanced by 8.4% in that time, thanks to upward revisions from half of the 4 covering analysts. The consensus is now at $1.16 per share, up from $1.07 in the past week and practically 15% better than the outlook for this fiscal year.

1 of 4 in Textile-Apparel

There are 223 stocks on today's Zacks #1 Rank List. Included among them are 4 companies from the Textile-Apparel industry. Besides GIII, the other 3 companies are Jones Apparel Group, Inc. (JNY - Snapshot Report), Maidenform Brands, Inc. (MFB - Snapshot Report) and Warnaco Group, Inc. (WRC - Analyst Report).

Shares of GIII are up 12% today on volume of 133,000, compared to the average of 159,000.